SC’s inland port opens next month

South Carolina’s $25 million inland port is set to open next month, a little later than expected because of this year’s heavy rains, according to an update on three terminal projects given Tuesday to the board of the agency operating the state’s ports.

Jim Newsome, the president and CEO of the South Carolina State Ports Authority, said data tests will start Friday using the computers that will track shipments through the inland port providing a direct rail link between Greer and the state’s coast.

“We are in good shape with this,” Newsome said, adding that

heavy rains caused crews to lose 72 days of work time. The original opening date had been in early September.

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Once open, the terminal is expected to eliminate as many as 50,000 truck trips a year on busy I-26 between Charleston and the Greenville-Spartanburg area.

The terminal is part of $1.3 billion in capital improvements the ports are undertaking during the next decade.

One of those projects is a $525 million container terminal at the old Charleston Naval Base now under construction and expected to open in 2019.

The authority also is working with Georgia on the Jasper Ocean Terminal, a $5 billion terminal on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River. When that is expected to come online is not yet certain with the terminal being planned for when container capacity at both the South Carolina and Georgia ports is exhausted.

David Posek, who represents the S.C. Ports on the Ocean Terminal board, said Tuesday the two states are redrafting the agreement under which the port will be built.

The board also learned that container volume through the state’s ports increased 4 percent during July and August compared to the same months last year. The August volume was the highest in almost five years.